Refrigerator issues

StarSong

StarSong

Awkward is my Superpower
Location
Los Angeles Suburbs
Our kegerator has developed a strange issue. It's the kind of fridge that has a freezer on top and large refrigerator area on the bottom. It's probably 20 years old and 20 cubic feet overall.

The freezer remains at roughly 0°, but the refrigerator cools only to 60° and stays there. Since our outdoor and garage temps are in the 90s, the fridge is obviously working but it's not getting cold as it should.

We've plugged, unplugged, vacuumed the underneath and coils, and turned the coldness gauge down all the way, but no joy.

I hate to buy a new fridge to replace it but will if we can't repair this one. Our kegerator is a well-known and well-loved component of our pizza parties and other gatherings, and there's always a secondary party going on in that little man cave. Much more talking and male-bonding goes on around the kegarator than drinking. Even the non-drinkers spend a lot of time out there.

Indeed, if I decide to have a beer while busy making pizza and dispatch someone fetch it for me, I do so with the instructions to pour the beer and bring it to me, then feel free to return there and hang out with whomever for as long you'd like. It's like a black hole for men... they get sucked in and only get spit back out when their wives/GFs hunt them down, they get hungry, or need to use the bathroom.

Any repair suggestions would be welcomed.

Thanks for your help. :love:
 

StarSong said:
Our kegerator has developed a strange issue. It's the kind of fridge that has a freezer on top and large refrigerator area on the bottom. It's probably 20 years old and 20 cubic feet overall.

Any repair suggestions would be welcomed.

Thanks for your help. :love:
Click to expand...

Does this "kegerator" have separate controls for the freezer and fridge compartments? Is anything blocking the vents? If you hold your hand near the fridge vent, does it appear to be blowing cold air?

If you have the Make and Model numbers, you can go to a couple of good web sites....RepairClinic.com, or AppliancePartsPros.com....where they often have tips and videos on fixing things. If these sites don't have any info on this Make/Model, it is probably obsolete, and parts no longer available...in which case, calling a repairman might cost most of the price of a new unit.
 
I once heard that refrigerators are the biggest vampires of electricity in the house. At 20 years old yours may or may not be energy efficient you know that star logo energy efficient?

If you have to get a new oneyou'll get an energy efficient one and maybe you could get a smaller one if it's just for beers. I wish you luck.

The way you wrote that was really funny by the way.
 
RadishRose said:
I once heard that refrigerators are the biggest vampires of electricity in the house. At 20 years old yours may or may not be energy efficient you know that star logo energy efficient?

If you have to get a new oneyou'll get an energy efficient one and maybe you could get a smaller one if it's just for beers. I wish you luck.

The way you wrote that was really funny by the way.
Click to expand...
Totally agree. Get an upgrade Starsong. From what you’ve said, this thing is quite valuable so replace it with something just as good OR better. Quality time with special friends and family is worth the investment. Plus you wouldn’t want all the hard work organizing these events to be ruined by a faulty appliance.

I think maybe Starsong has had a couple of beers already
 
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Don M. said:
If you have the Make and Model numbers, you can go to a couple of good web sites....RepairClinic.com, or AppliancePartsPros.com....where they often have tips and videos on fixing things. If these sites don't have any info on this Make/Model, it is probably obsolete, and parts no longer available...in which case, calling a repairman might cost most of the price of a new unit.
Click to expand...
Thanks, we'll try this.
 
Keesha said:
Totally agree. Get an upgrade Starsong. From what you’ve said, this thing is quite valuable so replace it with something just as good OR better. Quality time with special friends and family is worth the investment. Plus you wouldn’t want all the hard work organizing these events to be ruined by a faulty appliance.

I think maybe Starsong has had a couple of beers already
Click to expand...
All true except for the part about having had a couple already. Although our house is loaded with alcohol (mostly gifts), hubby and I might have a drink or two a week at the very most. I beg people to please come our home empty-handed but not all are good at following directions.
 
Farewell to a good and faithful soldier. You served the troops well for many a year, first as a second fridge then as our first kegerator.

Taps have been removed (and taps will be sung when you are ready to leave our premises).

Your most recent pours were North Coast Scrimshaw and Racer 5. Like the bravest of warriors you refused to die when your task was not yet complete. You chose your moment when both kegs came up empty on the same day, which in and of itself was a rarity over your ten plus years of service as a kegerator.

We salute you.

kegerator.jpg c50f9f67-92dd-465d-a35c-06e5b93d22a8.jpg
 
StarSong said:
All true except for the part about having had a couple already. Although our house is loaded with alcohol (mostly gifts), hubby and I might have a drink or two a week at the very most. I beg people to please come our home empty-handed but not all are good at following directions.
Click to expand...
I didn’t mean it to sound insulting.
Sorry if you found it offensive in any way
It was meant in a playful manner.
 
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John cycling said:
My Whirlpool fridge, converted from a chest freezer with a temperature control quite a long time ago,
only uses 8 watts. I was using a separate chest freezer the same way, but didn't use it very much and got rid of it.
Click to expand...
Chest freezers are supposed to be more energy efficient than uprights.

I grew up with a chest freezer and bought one that was 2/3 size fairly early in my marriage. Five people constantly reassorting where everything was while pawing through looking for what they wanted. Ugh... Never again.

It's difficult enough to rotate inventory in an upright freezer. Digging through newer foods to whatever has drifted to the bottom of a chest freezer isn't a fun exercise. So much food got buried, eventually developed permafrost, and had to be discarded.

I hear tell that there are highly organized people out there whose chest freezers look like the "after" picture. That's not my reality. In fact, I'd have aspired for mine to look as good as the "before" shot.


c6149e4cf99c0f55feaed4acc03f5cda.jpg
 

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